At the same time, there are various points capable of affording matter for investigation and discussion.
It would, perhaps, be best in giving a general sketch of the structural features of a locality to ascend in a balloon, and while suspended in mid-air, to take a bird's-eye view of the surface of the country, noting the configuration and character of the land, and observing how each formation has left its impress on the present features of the soil. An opportunity of this nature seldom, however, offers itself, and failing such easy means of ascent, the next best thing is perhaps to climb, by a very easy path, it is true, to the summit of Flagstaff—a basaltic hill 2192 feet in height, and situated to the north-east of the city. To the admirers of scenery alone, their reward is immediate and ample. Fain would the writer linger a moment in description of the grandeur and scope of the view, but regretfully he is compelled, for fear of trespassing, to leave any description of it to his colleagues in the congenial task of describing the surroundings of the capital of Otago.
Looking away to the west we see the peaks and pinnacles of the interior of the Province, part of the great mica-schist country through which the Central Railway is now slowly fighting its way to the inland plain of the Maniototo, the Ida Valley, and the fertile banks and river flats of the Taieri, the Clutha, and the Manuherikia. Turning round more to the south, the dark and rounded form of Maungatua forms a landmark, from which the eye follows the horizon down to Quoin Point and beyond to a distant glimpse of the Nuggets. Between Maungatua and Saddle Hill, which is another basaltic peak, come the fertile plains of the Taieri, laid out in true chess-board pattern, and marking an ancient lake, into which the river of that name flowed, no doubt as a muddy stream, and whence it pursued its limpid course towards the ocean, until in the fulness of time the lake became a swamp, and the swamp, under the fostering care and industry of man, grew into a fertile tract of land, dotted with homesteads and clustering clumps of trees. To the immediate east of Saddle Hill, we see the Kaikorai River, which marks about the centre of the Green Island coal-field, the soft rocks composing which have been hollowed out and eroded until the sea flows at high tide far up the flat. Slightly to the east of the river mouth—which
